Suspended school janitor Julio Gomez on Monday lost his court bid to lift an edict barring him from entering Middletown schools. Gomez, a janitor at Woodrow Wilson Middle School who is temporarily working as a city parks maintainer, was barred from school grounds by Superintendent David Larson after officials learned of criminal cases pending against Gomez. Gomez's attorney, Antonina McKay, sought a preliminary injunction against Larson's order, saying it interfered with Gomez's ability to do his parks maintainer job. The job occasionally entails working on school grounds, particularly athletic fields, where city parks and recreation programs are run. However, Superior Court Judge Salvatore F. Arena said Gomez would not suffer "irreparable harm" from the order because he is still working, and there are enough park maintainers to work on school grounds in Gomez's place.

BRIDGEPORT — A local man was charged with sexually assaulting three women at a treatment facility where he was employed as a janitor, police said. Police obtained an arrest warrant for Rafael Cartagena, 40, charging him with three counts of first-degree sexual assault and four counts of fourth-degree sexual assault, police said. Officers were called out to New Prospects–Recovery Network of Programs after receiving reports from staff that a janitor had sexually assaulted several women, police said.

A school janitor fired last year after an investigation into sexual molestation charges will not have the chance to fight for his job in an arbitration hearing. The union representing Horace Hignett Jr. told him last week that it will not represent him in a grievance filed last year. The union's decision was made without Hignett's permission and against his wishes, his attorney, Melvin Scott of Colchester, said this week. Scott said he did not know why his client's case was dropped by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

By SAMAIA HERNANDEZ, smhernandez@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, October 17, 2012

Police say they have arrested a janitor who allegedly sexually assaulted a student at Lyman Hall High School. Juan David Mazo-Ospina, of 302 Saw Mill Road, West Haven, is charged with two counts each of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury. He was arraigned Wednesday at Superior Court in Meriden and is held on $200 bail. Mazo-Ospina worked for an outside cleaning company hired by the district, police said. In a letter to parents, schools Superintendent Salvatore F. Menzo said an incident happened at the school after the end of the school day on Monday.

A Hamden housewife and mother was raped and seriously wounded after being lured to her doctor's office by a janitor who gained access to her medical records and posed as a doctor, police said. The janitor is accused of telephoning her Saturday afternoon and convincing her to go in for some tests. Hamden Police Capt. Lawrence Peryer described the assault as a "vicious attack" by a man who had apparently fixated on the woman when he saw her at the doctor's office last month.

A Flanders Elementary School janitor resigned Thursday after his arrest last week on charges that he paid a 15-year-old boy to have sex with him and pose for photographs. Martin Kusslow, 53, had been a janitor for the school system since August 2004 but had been out of work on workers' compensation since June 2006, said Superintendent of Schools Joseph Erardi. Kusslow's resignation was received Thursday morning and was effective immediately, Erardi said. Kusslow was arrested Nov. 30 and charged with second-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and employing a minor in an obscene performance.

A Flanders Elementary School janitor resigned Thursday after his arrest last week on charges that he paid a 15-year-old boy to have sex with him and pose for photographs. Martin Kusslow, 53, had been a janitor for the school system since August 2004 but had been out of work on workers' compensation since June 2006, said Superintendent of Schools Joseph Erardi. Kusslow's resignation was received Thursday morning and was effective immediately, Erardi said. Kusslow was arrested Nov. 30 and charged with second-degree sexual assault, risk of injury to a minor and employing a minor in an obscene performance.

Sitting in his union hall, wearing a shiny purple Service Employees International Union jacket and matching hat, Severino Fuentes speaks in steady, even tones about his plight. Last month, he was a janitor at Hamilton Sundstrand, getting by on $9.50 an hour, plus medical benefits, even giving a few dollars a week to his grown son, who is deaf. As of this week, Fuentes is laid off. He faces a future with obstacles that sap his hope, even in a job market that seems to offer something for everyone.

Some heroes are born when they save the damsel in distress tied across the railroad tracks, just before a steaming locomotive comes thundering across. Others become heroes when they save someone from a burning building or from a gun-wielding criminal. In the era of tight town and school budgets, 10-year Cromwell High School janitor Jim Sergi became a hero by saving the school from tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage when he discovered both boilers had shut offcausing pipes to freeze and burst during the height of the blizzard of 1996.

A Plainville man was given a suspended sentence and two years' probation for injuring a Plainville High School janitor who tried to break up a disturbance in which the man was involved. Michael James Bradanini, 18, is also required to write a letter of apology to the janitor and perform 75 hours of community service. He is ordered to stay off school grounds. On the morning of Feb. 8, Bradanini was involved in an argument with a student at Plainville High School. The janitor noticed the crowd the two had attracted near the entrance to the school gymnasium and approached to break it up. The janitor made a hand gesture, suggesting the two calm down.

By MARA LEE, maralee@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, December 27, 2011

Governor Dannel P. Malloy weighed in on a second private union-management dispute, asking employers to reach an agreement with janitors similar to the one in Fairfield County, where office cleaners will receive raises totaling 13 percent over four years. The union that represents nearly 2,000 janitors from New Haven to Hartford says that the cleaning companies' last offer is not nearly so generous. Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ Spokeswoman Maia Davis said the raises offered are "zero or close to zero in all four years.

By MATTHEW STURDEVANT, msturdevant@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, December 15, 2011

Office cleaners in Hartford and New Haven voted Thursday to authorize their union negotiators to call a strike of 2,000 janitors represented by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union. Contract talks started on Nov. 17 between the union and the Hartford Area Cleaning Contractors Association, and the contract expires Jan. 1. After the vote, several hundred cleaners marched through downtown Hartford. They clean 147 buildings in Hartford and New Haven including the state Capitol, the Old State House, New Haven City Hall, Travelers Tower, and Wesleyan University.

A public school janitor was arrested Monday after allegedly leaving a loaded gun in a classroom at the Bucks Hill Elementary School, police said. Cody Willette, 25, of Woodbury, was working at the school on Sunday when he apparently left the firearm on a counter in a classroom, Waterbury police Capt. Chris Corbett said. The gun was discovered Monday morning by a teacher. Willette was arrested a short time later, police said. Corbett said Willette does have a valid permit to carry the pistol.

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN, kgosselin@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, November 17, 2011

The union representing 2,000 office building cleaners in the Hartford and New Haven regions began negotiations for a new, 4-year contract Thursday, with the union seeking to preserve benefits and win wage increases. Local 32BJ of SEIU presented its proposals to the group of cleaning companies, which include UGL Unicco Service Co., American Building Maintenance and Capitol Carpet Upholstery. "These men and women work hard every day to keep office buildings in our state well-maintained, sanitary and safe, but they earn barely enough to stay out of poverty," Kurt Westby, the union's Connecticut State Director, said.

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN, kgosselin@courant.com and The Hartford Courant, October 26, 2011

A move by CT-1 Media and The Hartford Courant to consolidate cleaning services at its Broad Street headquarters sparked a protest outside the building Wednesday by the janitors' union. CT-1 Media, the company that includes The Courant, Fox CT and other businsses, has given the contract for cleaning its main building to the company that has maintained the press room and other production areas for nine years. Capitol Cleaning Contractors Inc., which employs eight workers represented by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, will no longer clean the main building.

I read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett hoping for a good story, but I was also curious as to why a book about black maids could stay on bestseller lists for so long. As with many stories that attempt to wrestle the beast that is race in America, "The Help" stirred antagonism toward the author among avid readers and now among filmgoers, especially African Americans whose mothers and grandmothers cleaned white folks' homes and raised white children amid the racism of the deep south.

Vandals broke into Bolton Center School, 108 Notch Road, Friday night and caused damage to the library, police said. A janitor discovered the damage over the weekend. Police could not say if anything was stolen.

A Mansfield teenager was arraigned on felony charges Wednesday after he allegedly broke into a truck in the parking lot of a Storrs Road car dealership and then brandished a weapon when the vehicle's owner, an overnight janitor, confronted him. Christopher Stanish, 17, of Eastbrook Heights, remained silent, with his mother at his side, during a brief appearance in Rockville Superior Court. Judge Edward Graziani set bail at $10,000 and ordered him to return to court Oct. 11. According to a police report, the janitor saw Stanish break into his truck and lie down on the front seat.

Members of the local janitors union protested outside Goodrich Corp. in West Hartford on Wednesday, the 21st anniversary of the Justice for Janitors campaign. The union, 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, said Goodrich brought in a new cleaning contractor, Jani-King of Hartford, which did not hire any of the eight cleaners who worked for the previous contractor at the plant. The union said federal labor officials are investigating whether the refusal was related to the workers' membership in the union.

This time of year, nothing expresses disappointment with state policy like a lump of coal. A group of more than 40 union janitors, protesting the impending loss of their children's health care coverage, attempted to deliver a 2-gallon bucket of coal to Gov. M. Jodi Rell at the state Capitol this week. Drumming plastic pails and marching in a circle, the janitors - led by Wojciech Pirog, a union delegate dressed as Santa Claus - chanted "Hey, hey, ho, ho, health care costs have got to go," in front of the Capitol Monday afternoon.